System and Method for Providing Electronic Commerce Data

ABSTRACT

A mechanism for providing electronic commerce data onto publisher&#39;s site. The mechanism also provides ability for a consumer to interact with that data to complete a purchase from within the publisher&#39;s website or application. A method includes retrieving merchandise data from a plurality of merchants and storing at least one group of merchandise data formed based on the merchandise data and content on a publisher site. The method also includes embedding the group of merchandise data on the content of the publisher&#39;s website and generating a merchandise frame in view of the embedment. The method further includes rendering the merchandise frame directly onto the publisher site. The method further includes rendering a universal check out frame on the publisher&#39;s site, which provides the user the ability to check out from multiple retailers within a single universal check out on a publisher&#39;s site.

This application is a continuation of PCT International Application No.PCT/US2013/060956, filed Sep. 20, 2013, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/704,076 filed Sep. 21, 2012,entitled, “Integrated Electronic Commerce Platform for Publishers”, theentire contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to electronic commerce (e-commerce), and,more particularly, to a system and method for providing third-partye-commerce data directly onto publishers' websites or applications andto provide an ability for a consumer to interact with that data tocomplete a purchase from within the publisher's website or application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Currently, in the field of e-commerce, digital publishers (hereinafter“publishers”), such as any website owner other than an e-commercewebsite, recommend and write about different products and services ontheir websites and applications. However, these publishers are not ableto monetize these recommendations without having to either operate theirown e-commerce software or forward their traffic and users to thirdparty retailers' websites. As such, the current e-commerce solutionseither require publishers to forward traffic away from their own websiteto retailers' websites or force publishers to operate their owne-commerce software if they want to sell from within their own website.The example of the former is commonly known as affiliate marketing.Affiliate marketing allows publishers to promote links to products on aretailer's website.

A well-known multinational e-commerce online retailer, Amazon.com, hasbuilt a multiple retailer checkout, but the entire experience of thee-commerce occurs on their website. Amazon.com does not allow publishersto host multiple retailer checkouts on their own websites and as such,their solution only allows publishers to promote Amazon's products.Thus, a need exists to allow multiple retailer products to be e-commerceenabled within the publisher's website.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In at least one embodiment, the present invention provides a method forproviding third-party e-commerce data directly onto publishers' websitesor applications including retrieving, by a processing device,merchandise data from a plurality of independent merchants;consolidating the retrieved merchandise data into a common format;storing, by the processing device, at least one group of merchandisedata formed in view of the merchandise data and content on a publishersite; embedding, by the processing device, the group of merchandise dataon the content of the publisher site; generating, by the processingdevice, a merchandise frame in view of the embedment; and rendering, bythe processing device, the merchandise frame directly onto the publishersite, wherein the merchandise frame is rendered directly onto thecontent on the publisher site.

In at least one embodiment, the present invention provides a system forproviding third-party e-commerce data directly onto publishers' websitesor applications including a processing device; a memory coupled to theprocessing device; and an e-commerce system coupled to the computingdevice and the memory. The e-commerce system is configured to: retrievea merchandise data from a plurality of merchants; store at least onegroup of pre-selected merchandise data selected based on the merchandisedata and intended content on a publisher site; embed the pre-selectedgroup of merchandise data onto the content of the publisher's site;generate a merchandise frame in view of the embedment; and render themerchandise frame directly onto the publisher site, wherein themerchandise frame is rendered directly onto the content on the publishersite.

In at least one embodiment, the present invention provides anon-transitory machine-readable storage medium including data that, whenaccessed by a machine, causes the machine to perform operationscomprising: retrieving, by a processing device, merchandise data from aplurality of merchants; storing, by the processing device, at least onegroup of merchandise data formed in view of the merchandise data andcontent on a publisher site; embedding, by the processing device, thegroup of merchandise data on the content of the publisher site;generating, by the processing device, a merchandise frame in view of theembedment; and rendering, by the processing device, the merchandiseframe directly onto the publisher site, wherein the merchandise frame isrendered directly onto the content on the publisher site.

In at least one embodiment, the present invention provides a method forproviding third-party e-commerce data directly onto publishers' websitesor applications including retrieving, by a processing device, amerchandise data from a plurality of merchants; storing, by theprocessing device, at least one group of merchandise data formed in viewof the merchandise data and a content on a publisher site; embedding, bythe processing device, the group of merchandise data on the content ofthe publisher's website; generating, by the processing device, amerchandise frame in view of the embedment; rendering, by the processingdevice, the merchandise frame directly onto the publisher site, whereinthe merchandise frame is rendered directly onto the content on thepublisher site; generating an e-commerce frame in view of themerchandise data among the group of merchandise data selected by a userof the publisher site, wherein the e-commerce frame is a shopping bag ofthe selected merchandise data; and generating an updated e-commerceframe in view of a first merchandise data selected by the user on afirst publisher site, wherein the updated e-commerce frame comprise anupdated shopping bag comprising the selected merchandise data of thepublisher site and the selected first merchandise data of the firstpublisher site, wherein the first e-commerce frame is different from thee-commerce frame and the first publisher site is different from thepublisher site.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and constitutepart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention,and, together with the general description given above and the detaileddescription given below, serve to explain the features of the invention.In the drawings:

FIG. 1A is a schematic block diagram illustrating a system for providinge-commerce data to in accordance to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram illustrating details of components of thecomputer system of FIG. 1A in accordance to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 2A-2E illustrate merchandise frames as displayed on a screen inaccordance with various embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2F is an illustrative of a merchandise ad frame displayed on ascreen of publisher's 104 site in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIGS. 3A-3D illustrate e-commerce frames as displayed on a screen inaccordance with various embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 4A illustrates a universal checkout frame as displayed on a screenin accordance with various embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 4B illustrates a single page check out frame as displayed on ascreen in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for generatingmerchandise frames in order to provide the e-commerce data in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for generating andprocessing e-commerce frames and universal checkout frames to providethe e-commerce data in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for generating e-commerceframes to provide the e-commerce data in accordance with the embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram representation of a machine in theexemplary form of a computer system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1A illustrates an overview of a computer system (hereinafter“system”) 100 for providing e-commerce data in accordance to anembodiment of the present invention. The system 100 includes ane-commerce system 102, which serves as a neutral hub or network overwhich publishers and merchants can share and exchange information. Inone embodiment, the neutral hub or network is a cloud-computing network.In one embodiment, the e-commerce system 102 is a multi-tenant web scaleservice hosted in the cloud-computing network. In one embodiment, thee-commerce system 102 is a computer system, which may be a machine suchas, for example, any variety of end user devices, such as a personalcomputer (PC), a laptop, a mobile phone, mobile smart phone, a tabletcomputer, handheld devices, netbooks, or any other computing device.

A plurality of publishers 104 may communicate and share information onpublishing data including, but not limited to, text, image and videodata with the e-commerce system 102. The plurality of publishers 104utilize devices (not shown) such as personal computer, PDA, a terminal,a mobile device or any other suitable device that provides access to thee-commerce system 102. A plurality of merchants 106 may communicate andshare information about products and services (hereinafter“merchandise”) with the e-commerce system 102. Similarly as thepublishers 104, the plurality of merchants 106 utilize devices (notshown) such as personal computer, PDA, a terminal, a mobile device orany other suitable device that provides access to the e-commerce system102.

The system 100 also includes a plurality of consumers (“users”) 108,which communicate with the plurality of publishers 104 via a network110. The network 110 may be any suitable communications network such as,for example, a local area network, wide area network, telephone network,cable television network, Intranet, Internet, or any other suitablewired or wireless communications network. The plurality of users 108 mayutilize user access devices (not shown) suitable for communicating withthe publisher's 104 via a network 110. For example, the user accessdevices may be a personal computer, PDA, a terminal, a mobile device orany other suitable device that provides access to the publishers 104 viathe network 110.

In one embodiment, the publisher 104 is a website. In anotherembodiment, the publisher is an application. Such applications mayinclude but not limited to a tablet application, and a mobile phoneapplication. In one embodiment, the publisher 104 runs an e-commerceapplication including a user application 112 (shown in phantom) whichprovide e-commerce data to the users 108. Such e-commerce data mayinclude merchandise data associated with the publishing data. Suchmerchandise data may include, but not limited to merchandise for sale,name of the merchant selling the merchandise, image, description, value,color, size, shape and form of the merchandise.

FIG. 1B illustrates details of components of the e-commerce system 102in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Thee-commerce system 102 may include a feed service module 120 thatcollects the merchandise data from the plurality of merchants. Asdiscussed above, the merchandise data may include but not be limited tothe merchandise for sale, name of the merchant selling the merchandise,image, description, value, color, size, shape and form of themerchandise. The merchandise data collected from the plurality ofmerchants may have different languages, styles and formats. As such, thefeed service module 120 functions to consolidate the merchandise datafrom the plurality of merchants and converts the merchandise data into anormalized merchandise data with a single common language, style andformat. The normalized merchandise data is sent by the feed servicemodule 120 to a merchandise database 122.

The e-commerce system 102 may also include a publisher interfaceapplication 124, which is coupled to the merchandise database 122. Themerchandise database 122 may store the merchandise metadata provided toa website or an application of (hereinafter “site”) of the publisher104, which may be saved into a frame by the publisher 104 via thepublisher interface application 124. As discussed above, the content mayinclude but not be limited to article, image and video.

The publishers 104 via the publisher interface application 124 maysearch the merchandise database 122 to curate one or more merchandisedata and aggregate into a group or set of merchandise data (hereinafter“frame”) to be presented into the publisher's 104 site via the framestored in an e-commerce database 126. For example, the publisher's 104site is an article on beach vacation, the publisher 104 may search themerchandise database 122 and curate products and/or services such assuntan lotion from merchant A, sunglasses from merchant B, bathing suitfrom merchant C, beach towel from merchant D, transportationaccommodations from merchant E and lodging accommodations from merchantF into a group called summer. As such, the publisher 104 may curate themerchandise data associated with the summer frame and map the frame tothe publisher's 104 site in an article on beach vacations. As such,several frames may be created and stored in the e-commerce database 126and further embedded within the publisher's site. In one embodiment,each of the publisher's frames stored in the e-commerce database 126 isassigned with a unique identification (ID) which points to the specificframe or group of merchandise data in the merchandise database 122.

The e-commerce system 102 may also include a frame generation module128, which is coupled to the merchandise database 122 and the e-commercedatabase 126. In one embodiment, the frame generation module 128 servesthe content of the frame, which is then rendered, within the publishers'site. A merchandise frame is a case or border enclosing the group ofmerchandise data. More specifically, the frame generation module 128retrieves the specific frame from the e-commerce database 126 based onthe unique ID of the publisher's content on their site. The framegeneration module 128 also generates the merchandise frame enclosing thespecific group of merchandise data.

In one embodiment, the publisher 104 adds a library, such as aJavaScript library provided by the e-commerce system 102 to an HTML ofthe web page of publisher's 104 site. The library may be a clientapplication that communicates with an application interface of thee-commerce system 102 to retrieve the merchandise frame from the framegeneration module 128 and add an HTML tag that includes the unique ID ofthe merchandise frame that had been previously created and stored in thee-commerce database 126. As such, when the user 108 visits thepublisher's 104 site, the library detects the presence of that tag andrenders the appropriate merchandise frame onto the publisher's 104 site.

In one embodiment, the merchandise frames are displayed onto the contenton the publisher's 104 site. As an example, when the user 108 is readingan article on beach vacations on the publisher's 104 site, one or moremerchandise frames, which include the merchandise data from the summergroup, may be displayed to the user on the publisher's 104 site. Themerchandise frames may include but not be limited to a singlemerchandise frame, merchandise grid frame, merchandise slideshow frame,merchandise link frame and a merchandise ad frame as will be describedin detail herein below.

FIG. 2A is an illustrative of a single merchandise frame displayed on ascreen of publisher's 104 site in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. In this example, the frame is a single merchandiseframe, which includes a single merchandise that is displayed at a timeon the content of the publisher's site. As shown, the merchandise is a“Bleecker Leather Color Utility Tote” (hereinafter “tote”), whichincludes merchandise data such as Coach as the merchant, image of thetote, description of the tote, value, color, type, size etc. of thetote.

FIG. 2B is an illustrative of a merchandise grid frame of multiplemerchandise displayed on a screen of publisher's 104 site in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention. In this example, theframe is a merchandise grid frame, which includes a grid of multiplemerchandises that are displayed onto the publisher's site. Additionally,the merchandise grid frame may provide a link to a single merchandiseframe corresponding to a merchandise in the merchandise grid frame.Specifically each merchandise in the grid may be configured to have aunique URL, so that the users 108 may share a direct URL to amerchandise within a grid frame.

FIG. 2C is an illustrative of a merchandise slideshow frame displayed ona screen of publisher's 104 site in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. As shown, the merchandise frames can be viewed as aslideshow by clicking on one of the arrow buttons.

FIG. 2D is an illustrative of a merchandise link frame displayed on ascreen of publisher's 104 site in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. As shown, the merchandise link frame includes contenton publisher's 104 site. A user 108 may click on a text link forexample, “Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner”, which is followed by themerchandise frame of the merchandise associated with the “Bobbi BrownLong-Wear Gel Eyeliner” displayed on the screen of publisher's 104 site,as illustrated in FIG. 2E.

FIG. 2F is an illustrative of a merchandise ad frame displayed on ascreen of publisher's 104 site in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. The merchandise ad frame may display severalmerchandises sold by the merchants 106 on the publisher's 104 site. Theuser 108 may select one more merchandises from the merchandise frames onthe publisher's 104 site. Such selection is retrieved by the framegeneration module 128 to generate e-commerce frames. An e-commerce frameis a case or a border enclosing a shopping cart or bag listing one ormore merchandises selected by the user 108 for purchase and themerchandise data associated with the selected one or more merchandises.In one embodiment, the publisher 104 may use the publisher interfaceapplication 124 that connects to the merchandise database 122. In oneembodiment, the publisher interface application 124 is a web interfacethat the publisher 104 uses to search for the merchandise within themerchandise database 122, and then saves the selected merchandise andthe associated merchandise data into a grouping, called the frame.Similar to the above-mentioned specific group of merchandise data, theselected grouping of merchandise data is also stored within themerchandise database 122 and is assigned with a unique ID associatedwith the publisher's content stored on the publisher's website. Thee-commerce frame generated by the frame generation module 128 byretrieving the frame from the e-commerce database 126, which may belater retrieved by the publisher to be embedded within the publisher's104 site as described in detail herein below.

The e-commerce frames are embedded onto publisher's 104 site similar tothe embedding of the merchandise frame discussed above. The library mayretrieve the e-commerce frame from the frame generation module 128 andadd an HTML tag that includes the unique ID of the e-commerce frame thathad been previously created and stored in the e-commerce database 126.As such, when the user 108 visits the publisher's 104 site, the librarydetects the presence of that tag and renders the appropriate e-commerceframe onto the publisher's 104 site.

As discussed above, an e-commerce frame is a case or a border enclosinga shopping cart or bag listing one or more merchandises selected by theuser 108 for purchase and the merchandise data associated with theselected one or more merchandises. In one embodiment, the shopping cartis updated automatically as the user 108 removes or adds merchandise tothe list. The user 108 may update the shopping cart through theirbrowser. For example, the user may click an “Add to Cart” button next tothe merchandise, which in turn causes the user's browser to execute acode present on the user's website that triggers the update and storageof the shopping cart. As such, the state of the shopping cart is storedand persisted onto user's browser.

In one embodiment, the e-commerce frame is a shopping bag linkcomponent, which may be embedded onto the publisher's 104 site. FIG. 3Aillustrates an example of the shopping bag link component displayed on ascreen of publisher's 104 site in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. The user 108 may click on the shopping bag linkcomponent in order to view the shopping bag.

In one embodiment, the e-commerce frame is a shopping bag frame, whichdisplays the shopping bag. The shopping bag frame is generated byautomatically grouping merchandises together based on the merchant 106,thus making it clear to the users 108 the merchants 106 that will befulfilling the merchandises. As such, the shopping bag frame providesthe list of selected one or more merchandises associated with theselected merchandise data including the name of the merchant shippingeach of the selected one or more merchandises. As such, the merchants106 corresponding to the one or more merchandise data are made visibleto the user 108. As such the e-commerce frame provides the user theability to view the multiple retailers within a single, e-commerce frameon the publisher's site.

FIG. 3B illustrates an example of the shopping bag frame displayed on ascreen of publisher's 104 site in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. As shown, the shopping bag frame displays theselected merchandise, Mexlan Giotto Alligator Derby (hereinafter“derby”), the data such as the brand, color, size, price, etc.associated with the derby and the merchant, Nordstrom that is shippingthe derby. Also, as shown, the shopping bag frame separately displaysthe selected merchandise, Beats By Dr. Dre-urBeats Earbud Headphones(hereinafter “headphones”), the data associated with the headphones andthe merchant, Best Buy that is shipping the headphones.

In one embodiment, the e-commerce frame may include one or moremerchandise products selected from various publisher's 104 sites. Assuch, the user 108 may select a merchandise from a first publisher's(publisher 104) site and add that merchandise to their shopping bag,which is displayed on the first publisher's (publisher 104) site. Anexample of the e-commerce frame is shown in FIG. 3C, where the firstpublisher is Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and the selected merchandise isSamsung—Galaxy Note 10.1 Tablet Deep Gray with 16 GB Memory-Deep Gray(hereinafter “tablet”). The user 108 may then navigate to a secondpublisher's (publisher 104) site and may select another merchandise fromthe second publisher's (publisher 104) site and add it to their shoppingbag, which generates an updated shopping bag with the selectedmerchandise from both the first and second publisher's 104 in a singleshopping bag. An updated e-commerce frame including the updated shoppingbag is then displayed on the second publisher's (publisher 104) site andcontains both the first and second merchandise. An example of theupdated e-commerce frame is shown in FIG. 3D, where the secondpublishers is TeenVogue and the second selected merchandise data isLilas Scented Candle (hereinafter “candle”). As shown, the updatede-commerce frame includes both the tablet from the WSJ and the candlefrom TeenVogue.

An identification (ID) of the shopping bag is persisted as a cookie onthe user's 108 browser bound to the e-commerce system 102 (preferablyinterne domain) or within local storage in a user's 108 application. Thesite or application contains code from the e-commerce system 102 toretrieve and display the contents of the shopping bag, which are storedin the e-commerce database 126 and identified by the unique ID (asdiscussed above). Additional merchandise items may be added to ashopping bag, which can be accessed by the user 108 who uses anypublisher's 104 site or application that is part of the e-commercesystem 102. The user can also perform actions on that shopping bag suchas removing merchandise items, updating the quantity of merchandiseitems or clearing the shopping bag entirely.

The e-commerce system 102 may also include a checkout module 130 coupledto the e-commerce database 126. In one embodiment, the checkout module130 processes the transaction of the e-commerce frame to generate auniversal checkout frame to be embedded within the publisher's 104 site.In one embodiment, the universal checkout frame may be an HTML componentthat is retrieved by the user's 108 browser and rendered onto thepublisher's 104 web page or application. Specifically, the publisher's104 site hosts a checkout page that includes the checkout frame, whichis served from the checkout module 130 of the e-commerce system 102. So,when the user 108 clicks the “check out” button in the e-commerce frame(including the shopping cart), the user's browser is redirected to thepublisher's 104 checkout page, where the checkout frame is rendered fromthe checkout module 130, preferably via an HTML tag.

In one embodiment, checkout module 130 retrieves the selectedmerchandise data from the e-commerce frame to provide as an ordersummary on the universal checkout frame. The order summary may includethe one or more merchandises selected for purchase by the user includingthe name of the merchant processing and shipping the merchandise.Besides the order summary, the universal checkout frame also includes aform that the user needs to fill out. The form may contain the detailsof the order including user's contact information, the shipping address,the billing address, the payment information. As such the universalcheck out frame provides the user the ability to checkout from multipleretailers within a single, universal checkout on the publisher's site.FIG. 4A illustrates an example of the universal check out framedisplayed on a screen of publisher's 104 site in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. As shown, the universal checkoutframe provides an order summary divided into multiple merchants and theform to be filled out by the user in order to process the order.

In one embodiment, the checkout module 130 processes the transaction ofthe e-commerce frame to generate a one page checkout frame to beembedded within the publisher's 104 site. In one embodiment, the onepage checkout frame may be an HTML component that is retrieved by theuser's 108 browser and rendered onto the publisher's 104 web page orapplication. Specifically, the publisher's 104 site hosts a checkoutpage that includes the checkout frame, which is served from the checkoutmodule 130 of the e-commerce system 102. So, when the user 108 clicksthe “check out” button in the e-commerce frame (including the shoppingbag), the user's browser is redirected to the publisher's 104 checkoutpage, where the checkout frame is rendered from the checkout module 130,preferably via an HTML tag.

In one embodiment, checkout module 130 retrieves the shopping bag fromthe e-commerce frame to provide it on the one page checkout frame. Theshopping bag on the one page checkout frame may be divided into multiplemerchants such that it includes one or more names of the merchants, oneor more merchandises selected for purchase by the user from thecorresponding merchant including the associated merchandise data.Besides the shopping bag, the one page checkout frame also includes aone page form that the user fills out providing the details such asuser's contact information, the shipping address, the billing addressand the payment information. As such, all the information needed toprocess the order is provided on the one page form in the one pagecheckout frame, thus avoiding the user to enter multiple pages to fillout the information necessary to process the order. Also, the one pagecheckout frame provides the user the ability to checkout from multipleretailers within a single, universal checkout on the publisher's site.FIG. 4B illustrates an example of the one page checkout frame displayedon a screen of publisher's 104 site in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention. As shown, the one page checkout frame provides ashopping bag divided into four merchandises purchased by three differentmerchants and a one page form to be filled out by the user in order toprocess the order.

The e-commerce system 102 may also include an order management module132 coupled to the e-commerce database 126. Specifically, the ordermanagement module 132 receives the order initiated via either theuniversal checkout frame or the one page checkout frame, stores anencrypted copy of the order in the e-commerce database 126, and thentransmits the relevant portions of the order to each participatingmerchant 106. Specifically, the order management module 132 may retrievethe single order in either the universal checkout frame or the one pagecheckout frame from the e-commerce database 126 and divide it intoseparate multiple components based on the corresponding merchants. Thenumber of multiple components of the order may be based on the number ofmerchants listed on either the universal checkout frame or the one pagecheckout frame. Therefore, for example if the order in either theuniversal checkout frame or the one page checkout frame includes threemerchandises purchased by three different merchants, the ordermanagement module 132 may divide the order into three separatecomponents such that each component of the order is associated with thecorresponding merchant.

The e-commerce system 102 may also include an order management module132 coupled to the e-commerce database 126. Specifically, the ordermanagement module 132 receives the order initiated via the universalcheckout frame, stores an encrypted copy of the order in the e-commercedatabase 126, and then transmits the relevant portions of the order toeach participating merchant 106 . . . . Specifically, the ordermanagement module 132 may retrieve the single order in the universalcheckout frame from the e-commerce database 126 and divide it intoseparate multiple components based on the corresponding merchants. Thenumber of multiple components of the order may be based on the number ofmerchants listed on the universal checkout frame. Therefore, for exampleif the order in the universal checkout frame includes three merchandisespurchased by three different merchants, the order management module 132may divide the order into three separate components such that eachcomponent of the order is associated with the corresponding merchant.

In one embodiment, the order management module 132 may forward each ofthe multiple components of the order to the corresponding merchants 106for processing and shipping the merchandise. As such each of thecorresponding merchants, 106 are unaware of the other components of theorder associated with other corresponding merchants 106. In anotherembodiment, the order management module 132 may process the merchandisefor the corresponding merchant 106 and forward the component of theorder to the corresponding merchandise 106 for shipping the merchandise.The processing of the merchandise may include processing a transactionof the merchandise. In one embodiment, the order management module 132may include a predefined workflow for each merchant 106. That workflowtries to guarantee that the order is delivered to the merchant 106within a specific amount of time. If the order may not be delivered inthe specific amount of time (due to an error on the merchant'se-commerce system, connectivity problems, etc.), it escalates the orderto a customer care person who will then transmit the order to themerchant 106 through some other means.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 500 for generatingmerchandise frames in order to provide the e-commerce data in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention. Method 500 may be performedby processing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry,dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (such asinstructions run on a processing device), firmware, or a combinationthereof. In one embodiment, method 500 is performed by the e-commercesystem 102 of FIGS. 1A and 1B executing in a computing device, such asthe system 100 of FIG. 1A.

Method 500 begins at block 502 where one more merchandise data isretrieved from a plurality of merchants. As discussed above, themerchandise data may include, but not limited to, the merchandise forsale, name of the merchant selling the merchandise, image, description,value, color, size, shape and form of the merchandise. At block 504, theone or more merchandise data are consolidated and converted intonormalized merchandise data with a single common language, style andformat. In one embodiment, the publisher curates the one or moremerchandise data into a group or set of merchandise data to be presentedinto the publisher's site and maps the stored content with the group ofmerchandise data. At block 506, the group of merchandise data is stored.At block 508, the group of merchandise data is embedded within thecontent of publisher's site. Specifically, a specific group ofmerchandise data is retrieved based on the mapping with the storedpublisher's content and embedded within that content of the publisher'ssite. At block 510, a merchandise frame is generated based on theembedment. As discussed above, a merchandise frame is a case or borderenclosing the group of merchandise data. At block 512, the merchandiseframe is rendered directly onto the content on the publisher's 104 site.In one embodiment, the merchandise frames are displayed onto the contenton the publisher's site.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for generating andprocessing e-commerce frames and universal checkout frames to providethe e-commerce data in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. Method 600 may be performed by processing logic that maycomprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic,microcode, etc.), software (such as instructions run on a processingdevice), firmware, or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, method600 is performed by the e-commerce system 102 of FIGS. 1A and 1Bexecuting in a computing device, such as the system 100 of FIG. 1A.

Method 600 begins at block 602 where a list of one of more merchandisesselected by the user for purchase is received. At block 604, ane-commerce frame is generated based on the list. As discussed above, ane-commerce frame is a case or a border enclosing a shopping cart or baglisting one or more merchandises selected by the user for purchase andthe merchandise data associated with the selected one or moremerchandises. As discussed above, an e-commerce frame is a case orborder enclosing one of a link to the shopping bag or the shopping bagitself. In one embodiment, e-commerce frame provides the list ofselected one or more merchandise data including the name of the merchantshipping each of the selected one or more merchandises data. At block606, the e-commerce frame is rendered onto the publisher's site. In oneembodiment, the e-commerce frame is displayed onto the publisher's site.As such, the merchants corresponding to the one or more selectedmerchandise data along with the selected merchandise data made visibleto the user.

At block 608, it is determined whether the user initiated transaction ofthe selected merchandise data on the e-commerce frame. If at block 608,the user did not initiate the transaction, the process ends. If at block608, the user initiated the transaction, then at block 610, thetransactions are processed to generate a universal checkout frame. Atblock 612, the universal checkout frame is rendered onto the content ofthe publisher's 104 site. In one embodiment, the e-commerce frame isdisplayed onto the publisher's site. As discussed above, the universalcheck out frame may include multi-merchandise data including a singleorder of user's personal data such as user's contact information, user'sbilling information, user's payment information and an order summary ofthe one or more merchandises selected for purchase by the user includingthe name of the merchant processing and shipping the merchandise.

At block 614, the single order from the universal checkout frame isretrieved and processed. In one embodiment, the single order is dividedinto separate multiple components based on the corresponding merchants.The number of multiple components may be based on the number ofmerchants listed on the universal checkout frame. At block 616, each ofthe multiple components of the order is sent to the correspondingmerchants. As such, each of the corresponding merchants is unaware ofthe other components of the order associated with other correspondingmerchants. In one embodiment, each of the corresponding merchant mayprocess the merchandise for processing and shipping. In anotherembodiment, the e-commerce system 102 may process the merchandise forthe corresponding merchant and forward the component of the order to thecorresponding merchandise for shipping the merchandise. The processingof the merchandise may include processing a transaction of themerchandise.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for generating e-commerceframes to provide the e-commerce data in accordance with anotherembodiment of the present invention. Method 700 may be performed byprocessing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicatedlogic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (such asinstructions run on a processing device), firmware, or a combinationthereof. In one embodiment, method 700 is performed by the e-commercesystem 102 of FIGS. 1A and 1B executing in a computing device, such asthe system 100 of FIG. 1A.

Method 700 begins at block 702 where a first merchandise selected by auser in a first publisher's site is received. At block 704, ane-commerce frame is generated based on the selected first merchandise.As discussed above, the e-commerce frame is generated is a case orborder enclosing one of a link to the shopping bag or the shopping bagitself. The e-commerce frame includes the selected first merchandise andmerchandise data associated with the first merchandise. At block 706,the e-commerce frame is rendered onto the first publisher's site. In oneembodiment, the e-commerce frame is displayed on the first publisher'ssite. In one embodiment, the user may navigate to a second publisher'swebsite and select a second merchandise on the second publisher'swebsite. At block 708, the second merchandise selected by the user inthe second publisher's site is received. At block 710, an updatede-commerce frame is generated. In one embodiment, the updated e-commerceframe includes the updated shopping bag having the first and the secondselected merchandises and merchandise data associated with the first andthe second merchandises. At block 712, the updated e-commerce frame isrendered onto the second publisher's site. In one embodiment, theupdated e-commerce frame is displayed on the second publisher's site.

FIG. 8 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine in theexemplary form of a computer system 800 within which a set ofinstructions, for causing the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein, may be executed. In alternativeembodiments, the machine may be connected (e.g., networked) to othermachines in a LAN, an intranet, an extranet, or the Internet. Themachine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in aclient-server network environment, or as a peer machine in apeer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine may be apersonal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a PersonalDigital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance, aserver, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable ofexecuting a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specifyactions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a singlemachine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken toinclude any collection of machines that individually or jointly executea set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more ofthe methodologies discussed herein.

The computer system 800 includes a processing device 802, a memory 804(e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM) (such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or Rambus DRAM (RDRAM),etc.), a static memory 806 (e.g., flash memory, static random accessmemory (SRAM), etc.), and a data storage device 818, which communicatewith each other via a bus 830.

Processing device 802 represents one or more general-purpose processingdevices such as a microprocessor, central processing unit, or the like.More particularly, the processing device may be complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computer (RISC)microprocessor, long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, orprocessor implementing other instruction sets, or processorsimplementing a combination of instruction sets. Processing device 802may also be one or more special-purpose processing devices such as anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmablegate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), network processor,or the like. The processing device 802 is configured to executee-commerce logic 822 for performing the operations and steps discussedherein. In one embodiment, e-commerce system 102 described with respectto FIGS. 1 and 2 perform the e-commerce logic 822.

The computer system 800 may further include a network interface device808. The computer system 800 also may include a video display unit 810(e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), analphanumeric input device 812 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor controldevice 814 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device 816 (e.g., aspeaker).

The data storage device 818 may include a machine-accessible storagemedium (or more specifically a computer-readable storage medium) 820 onwhich is stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g. e-commerce logic822) embodying any one or more of the methodologies of functionsdescribed herein, such as methods 500, 600 and 700 for providinge-commerce data as described with respect to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7respectively. The e-commerce logic 822 may also reside, completely or atleast partially, within the memory 804 and/or within the processingdevice 802 during execution thereof by the computer system 800; thememory 806 and the processing device 802 constituting machine-accessiblestorage media.

The machine-readable storage medium 820 may also be used to store thee-commerce logic 822 persistently containing methods that call the aboveapplications. While the machine-accessible storage medium 820 is shownin an exemplary embodiment to be a single medium, the term“machine-accessible storage medium” should be taken to include a singlemedium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database,and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets ofinstructions. The term “machine-accessible storage medium” shall also betaken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding orcarrying a set of instruction for execution by the machine and thatcause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of thepresent invention. The term “machine-accessible storage medium” shallaccordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-statememories, and optical and magnetic media.

It is to be understood that the above description is intended to beillustrative, and not restrictive. Many other embodiments will beapparent to those of skill in the art upon reading and understanding theabove description. Although the present invention has been describedwith reference to specific exemplary embodiments, it will be recognizedthat the invention is not limited to the embodiments described, but canbe practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit andscope of the appended claims. Accordingly, the specification anddrawings are to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than arestrictive sense. The scope of the invention should, therefore, bedetermined with reference to the appended claims, along with the fullscope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: retrieving, by a processingdevice, merchandise data from a plurality of independent merchants;consolidating the retrieved merchandise data into a common format;storing, by the processing device, at least one group of merchandisedata formed in view of the merchandise data and content on a publishersite; embedding, by the processing device, the group of merchandise dataon the content of the publisher site; generating, by the processingdevice, a merchandise frame in view of the embedment; and rendering, bythe processing device, the merchandise frame directly onto the publishersite, wherein the merchandise frame is rendered directly onto thecontent on the publisher site.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein thepublisher site comprise one of a website or an application.
 3. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the merchandise frame comprise the group ofmerchandise data comprising at least one of merchandise for sale, nameof the merchant selling the merchandise, image, description, value,color, size, shape and form of the merchandise.
 4. The method of claim 3further comprising generating an e-commerce frame in view of merchandisedata, among the group of merchandise data, selected by a user of thepublisher site, wherein the e-commerce frame is a shopping bag of theselected merchandise data.
 5. The method of claim 4 further comprisingrendering the e-commerce frame directly onto the publisher site, whereinthe e-commerce frame comprising one or more selected merchandise dataand the name of the merchant shipping the merchandise in the one or moreselected merchandise data, wherein the merchant shipping the merchandiseis same as the merchant selling the merchandise.
 6. The method of claim5 further comprising generating a universal checkout frame in view ofinitiation of a transaction of the one or more selected merchandise databy the user of the publisher site, wherein the universal check out framecomprises one of a single order of multi-merchandise data comprising oneof the one or more selected merchandise data, name of the merchantprocessing the transaction of the one or selected merchandise data,personal data of the user and account data of the user.
 7. The method ofclaim 6 further comprising dividing the single order of themulti-merchandise data into multiple component orders in view of anumber of the merchants corresponding to the transaction of the one ormore selected merchandise data.
 8. The method of claim 7 furthercomprising sending a component order among the multiple component ordersto the corresponding merchant.
 9. The method of claim 8 furthercomprising escalating the component order to a customer care person whenthe component order is not delivered to the corresponding merchant,wherein the customer care person is associated with the correspondingmerchant.
 10. A system comprising: a processing device; a memory coupledto the processing device; and an e-commerce system coupled to thecomputing device and the memory, the e-commerce system configured to:retrieve merchandise data from a plurality of merchants; store at leastone group of pre-selected merchandise data selected based on themerchandise data and intended content on a publisher site; embed thepre-selected group of merchandise data onto the content of thepublisher's site; generate a merchandise frame in view of the embedment;and render the merchandise frame directly onto the publisher site,wherein the merchandise frame is rendered directly onto the content onthe publisher site.
 11. The system of claim 10 wherein the publishersite comprises one of a website or an application.
 12. The system ofclaim 10 wherein the group of pre-selected merchandise data comprises atleast one of merchandise for sale, name of the merchant selling themerchandise, image, description, value, color, size, shape and form ofthe merchandise.
 13. The system of claim 12 wherein the processingdevice is configured to: generate an e-commerce frame in view ofmerchandise data, among the group of pre-selected merchandise data,selected by a user of the publisher site, wherein the e-commerce frameis a shopping bag of the selected merchandise data.
 14. The system ofclaim 13 wherein the processing device is configured to: render thee-commerce frame directly onto the publisher site, wherein thee-commerce frame comprises one or more selected merchandise data and thename of the merchant shipping the merchandise in the one or moreselected merchandise data, wherein the merchant shipping the merchandiseis same as the merchant selling the merchandise.
 15. The system of claim14 wherein the processing device is configured to: generate a universalcheckout frame in view of initiation of transaction of the one or moreselected merchandise data by the user of the publisher site, wherein theuniversal check out frame comprises one of a single order ofmulti-merchandise data comprising one of the one or more selectedmerchandise data, name of the merchant processing the transaction of theone or selected merchandise data, personal data of the user and accountdata of the user.
 16. The system of claim 15 wherein the processingdevice is configured to: divide the single order of themulti-merchandise data into multiple component orders in view of anumber of the merchants corresponding to the transaction of the one ormore selected merchandise data.
 17. The system of claim 16 wherein theprocessing device is configured to send the component order among thegroup of multiple component orders to the corresponding merchant. 18.The system of claim 17 wherein the processing device is configured toescalate the component order to a customer care person when thecomponent order is not delivered to the corresponding merchant, whereinthe customer care person is associated with the corresponding merchant.19. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including datathat, when accessed by a machine, causes the machine to performoperations comprising: retrieving, by a processing device, merchandisedata from a plurality of merchants; storing, by the processing device,at least one group of merchandise data formed in view of the merchandisedata and content on a publisher site; embedding, by the processingdevice, the group of merchandise data on the content of the publishersite; generating, by the processing device, a merchandise frame in viewof the embedment; and rendering, by the processing device, themerchandise frame directly onto the publisher site, wherein themerchandise frame is rendered directly onto the content on the publishersite.
 20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 19wherein the publisher site comprises one of a website or an application.21. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 19wherein the merchandise frame comprises the group of merchandise datacomprising at least one of merchandise for sale, name of the merchantselling the merchandise, image, description, value, color, size, shapeand form of the merchandise.
 22. The non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium of claim 21 having further data therein, which whenaccessed by the machine, causes the machine to perform a further set ofoperations, further comprising: generating an e-commerce frame in viewof merchandise data, among the group of merchandise data, selected by auser of the publisher site, wherein the e-commerce frame is a shoppingbag of the selected merchandise data.
 23. The non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium of claim 22 having further data therein,which when accessed by the machine, causes the machine to perform afurther set of operations, further comprising: rendering the e-commerceframe directly onto the publisher site, wherein the e-commerce framecomprises one or more selected merchandise data and the name of themerchant shipping the merchandise in the one or more selectedmerchandise data, wherein the merchant shipping the merchandise is sameas the merchant selling the merchandise.
 24. The non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium of claim 23 having further data therein,which when accessed by the machine, causes the machine to perform afurther set of operations, further comprising: generating a universalcheckout frame in view of initiation of transaction of the one or moreselected merchandise data by the user of the publisher site, wherein theuniversal check out frame comprises one of a single order ofmulti-merchandise data comprising one of the one or more selectedmerchandise data, name of the merchant processing the transaction of theone or selected merchandise data, personal data of the user and accountdata of the user.
 25. The non-transitory machine-readable storage mediumof claim 24 having further data therein, which when accessed by themachine, causes the machine to perform a further set of operations,further comprising: dividing the single order of the multi-merchandisedata into multiple component orders in view of a number of the merchantscorresponding to the transaction of the one or more selected merchandisedata.
 26. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 25having further data therein, which when accessed by the machine, causesthe machine to perform a further set of operations, further comprising:sending a component order among the multiple component orders to thecorresponding merchant.
 27. The non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium of claim 26 having further data, therein, which when accessed bythe machine, causes the machine to perform a further set of operations,further comprising: escalating the component order to a customer careperson when the component order is not delivered to the correspondingmerchant, wherein the customer care person is associated with thecorresponding merchant.
 28. A method comprising: retrieving, by aprocessing device, a merchandise data from a plurality of merchants;storing, by the processing device, at least one group of merchandisedata formed in view of the merchandise data and a content on a publishersite; embedding, by the processing device, the group of merchandise dataon the content of the publisher's website; generating, by the processingdevice, a merchandise frame in view of the embedment; rendering, by theprocessing device, the merchandise frame directly onto the publishersite, wherein the merchandise frame is rendered directly onto thecontent on the publisher site; generating an e-commerce frame in view ofthe merchandise data among the group of merchandise data selected by auser of the publisher site, wherein the e-commerce frame is a shoppingbag of the selected merchandise data; and generating an updatede-commerce frame in view of a first merchandise data selected by theuser on a first publisher site, wherein the updated e-commerce framecomprise an updated shopping bag comprising the selected merchandisedata of the publisher site and the selected first merchandise data ofthe first publisher site, wherein the first e-commerce frame isdifferent from the e-commerce frame and the first publisher site isdifferent from the publisher site.
 29. The method of claim 28 furthercomprising rendering the updated e-commerce frame directly onto thefirst publisher site.
 30. The method of claim 28 wherein the publishersite is one of a website or an application.